Short-Tailed Hawk

Not too much birding these past few days. We have been preoccupied with my oldest moving out with his wife to their new home in Washington DC. She begins classes in law school there next month and they have a lot to do. While loading the rental truck Friday we had a pleasant surprise with a pair of Swallow-Tailed Kites soaring overhead. Beautiful birds.  But seems to me that I haven't seen as many as usual this season, which should be ending in two or tree weeks. Another surprise occurred as we made our good byes  as a white-morphed Short-Tailed Hawk was seen soaring over-head. Hadn't seen one these Florida specialities for several months. Another nice sighting without having to go anywhere.

Earlier yesterday morning, just before leaving work, I noticed a pair of Common Nighthawks working the area with one bird surprising me with a swoop just four feet over my head. They too, should be gone by the end of August, when they head south to Central America. Following work I did check out the flooded fields at the I-75 rest stop to see if any new shorebirds were on hand.  Did find four Black-Necked Stilts and four Killdeers. Four Glossy Ibis came flying in. Next checked out the Domestic Street site were a large flock of White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets are taking to the air. Could not locate any of the burrowing owl family, which maybe dispersing, but did find a Red-Tailed Hawk sitting atop a high-power line stanchion.

The pair of Barred Owls that are visiting my workplace overnight have been making a very curious call or whistle.  Usually when we have barred owls on site, it is only a lone individual and rarely make any kind of noise. But this season we have a pair and they are making a call that reminds me of a very low volume whistle that starts out low and rises in pitch.  It reminds me of a sliding whistle. I had been hearing this noise over several days and did not know were it was coming from. Did not suspect that it was coming from a bird.  I was looking around the plant for the source, as a concern that we were having some kind of mechanical problem until the other night, I was just ten feet from one of the perched birds, who lowered its head and made the call.  My suspicion is that it could be some kind of vocalization between a parent and its offspring.  Need to do some research and any help would be welcome.